Friday, May 29, 2009

We make our way back from the 24 hour deli; the cool air is a refreshing change of pace. The night sky littered with stars seems vivid in comparison to the small black box that I’ve just spent my last 4 hours in. there is an all night session going on in the basement studio on a side block in soho… and when we left Quicny was just getting started…Back at the studio Quincy is sitting in front of a computer screen with the engineer for the night. Going over a verse that he just put down. “That shit don’t sound right!” he says, listening to the same line for the third time. Even as a young rapper Quicny is sure of his sound and how it comes across… “That’s why I don’t like people in the studio with me! People try to change shit, and then take credit for shit that’s not necessary!” Quincy started like most rappers, spilling rhymes over industry instrumentals. From the beginning, rapping to a notebook and a stereo, to late nights in the studio, his hardest battle has been to create a completely original sound over the same old beats. “Just the beats sound familiar doesn’t mean you can’t have your own sound. That’s my gift, that’s the thing we call talent. I’m not a rapper I’m a artist” And Quincy has been working hard to produce the kind of art that satisfies him.

For Quincy to produce the sound he wants he has almost completely stopped listening to rap. The last 16 bars Quincy wrote was over an old techno beat (“one more time” by Daft Punk “). Being original is not new to Quincy, from his music to his sense of style. “My style reflects my rhymes. I’m not gonna put myself in a box. I dress how I feel and that’s my sound. I can jump on anybodies track and do whatever, and I might throw down some cargo pants, shox’s and polo… my style evolves. But one thing for sure is I will never wear my pants at my waist. I’m gonna be 90 sagging hard. I won’t let the industry change me. And right now I dot think most rappers know how to dress. I don’t need a stylist, if you young and you cant dress then you whack. I really don’t think Brooklyn rappers know how to dress. They just try to match, but me I’m really into clothes.

The discussion is over and Quincy is finally satisfied. Before he goes back into the booth he comes over and takes a sip from his 32oz. Tropicana (I don’t think he does anything small). Quincy head back into the booth, its 3a.m. and he’s just getting started.